A Word About Green Tattoo Color

It seems as though everyone in tattooing at some time or other has had a problem putting green into the skin. Of course there are many and varied reasons for this. I will go into this in detail because I think it is a very important part of tattooing that every artist should know. A tattoo machine is only as good as the artist behind it. For starters, a good running machine with a new set of needles is a must. The most common mistake with green is that the artist doesn’t know when it’s in the skin. This happens because most greens are mixed with white and when tattooed into the skin, appears more white than green. (Example – Spaulding & Rogers Bright Green). The inexperienced artist will overwork the area, thinking he hasn’t got the color in because it doesn’t appear to be green enough. When the area is overworked, the color will just go into a bubble on the skin which will be mostly blood. When cleaned off, the skin will have a fuzzy look, and chances are there will be a thick scab and a sore tattoo to go with it. This you don’t want. So, although your green color may take on a very white look, don’t worry, it’s in there. Another good rule is to work it slowly, the skin will only accept it so fast and beyond that, it’s lost motion.
These same methods apply to all blue colors also. Always use Vaseline on the skin while working colors, it makes clean up more easy. If you find that your green has heated with little white spots showing throughout it, these are called “holidays” and usually comes from working the color too fast. In other words, there are spots you have missed due to an untrained eye. Yellow color is notorious for this and most always requires to be gone over twice during the process of the tattoo. It’s not a hard color to put in, it’s just deceiving to the eye.